"Islam" means submission. In this case, submission to the Will of God. The Will of God is made manifest through Sharia -- the laws that cover every aspect of human behavior.

In this, Islam is very much like Orthodox Judaism, which also has rules that cover every aspect of human behavior.

What else these two religions share, which Christianity lacks completely, is the idea of "uncleanliness". Uncleanliness is due to the nature of the human condition, and is not sinful in itself. But, knowingly violating the Law by somehow mingling the sacred with the unclean is a sin.

That's why a Muslim must wash completely before prayer, and why menstruating women are excused from the daily prayers. Not because it a sin to be dirty or to menstruate, but because it is unclean, and one does not come before the Holy in a state of uncleanliness.

We are so either Christian or post-Christian that we don't even see how Christian the foundational categories that make up our lives are. We see the world in terms of "Right" (Good Action) or Wrong (Bad action or sin). It's all based on an act of the moral subject's will. There is no between state like uncleanliness where the present and transient state of our physical nature undoes any attempt to perform our higher moral good.

Islam also prescribes how much gold one may wear and whether you can go fishing or not. It's a wonderful religion for those who do not want to make decisions for them selves. After all Islam means submission. Total submission.

And people think Scientology is weird. Come to think of it though, when I've been around Muslims, just going by sense of smell, I haven't really been all that impressed by their devotion to cleanliness.